Jedi Council Forums - 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die: Now Disc. "Brightness" (1987)

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Author	Topic: 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die: Now Disc. "Brightness" (1987)
Zaz Title: Manager, The Ampitheatre Registered: Oct '98	Date Posted: 11/20/06 8:05pm Subject: RE: 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die: Now Disc: "HIgh Sierra" (1941)
	Next: "Sullivan's Travels" (1941) USA: 90 min. B & W Languages: English Director: Preston Sturges Producer: Paul Jones, Buddy G. DaSylva, Preston Sturges Screenplay: Preston Sturges Photography: John F. Seitz Music: Charles Bradshaw, Leo Shuken Cast: Joel McCrea, Veronica Lake, Wm. Demerest Sturges was the product of an eccentric upbringing. (His real surname was Biden; Sturges is his stepfather's name). His mother was Isadora Duncan's best friend; his first wife was a Post (an heiress). The book says he is much concerned with upward and downward mobility, and indeed, this is major issue in some of his movies (at the end of his life, Sturges was broke). Sullivan is a film director who directs silly comedies. He wants as just about every comedian and comedy director wants, to be taken seriously. He wants to direct a film called--wait for it--"O, Brother Where Art Thou". He goes on the road in disguise as a bum, to experience 'real life.'
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Rogue1-and-a-half Title: Manager: Amphitheatre Registered: Nov '00	Date Posted: 11/20/06 8:13pm Subject: RE: 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die: Now Disc: "Sullivan's Travels" (1941)
	How can one help but see a defense of comedy? McCrea stands in for Sullivan as the popular comedy director who wants to direct a socially conscious and serious film ("with a little sex in it") and ends by discovering that making people laugh is precious; "that's all some people have." It's a very funny movie, for most of its running time. McCrea was never that popular as an actor, but he's got a brilliant comic touch. Veronica Lake as well and the Sturges stock company is in fine form as well. It's a joke on Hollywood, on filmmaking in general, on pretentious directors, on the media . . . and a very, very funny one. The hayfever scene is a hoot as is Lake's leap from the moving train. And some lines just stick in your head: "Miles from anywhere I taste of the milk of human kindness! What is the name of this village?" "Las Vegas, Nevada." Sullivan's pretentions take a dark turn toward the end and, ironically, in making a film about how comedy directors shouldn't try to make socially conscious films, Sturges has made - wait for it, wait for it - a socially conscious film. Perhaps the biggest joke is on us, the audience. It's jarring and crazy stylized (the rendition of Let My People Go is fairly goofy, yet striking), but it works. Definitely a classic. Not his best or his funniest, but a classic Sturges. -----signature----- Don't be a fool, don't be blind Heart of mine If you can't do the time, don't do the crime Heart of mine
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Zaz Title: Manager, The Ampitheatre Registered: Oct '98	Date Posted: 11/21/06 11:01am Subject: RE: 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die: Now Disc: "Sullivan's Travels" (1941)
	The 'Las Vegas' joke is a great one. Sturges had a fascinating life and his movies reflect it.
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Zaz Title: Manager, The Ampitheatre Registered: Oct '98	Date Posted: 11/21/06 7:07pm Subject: RE: 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die: Now Disc: "Sullivan's Travels" (1941) - Date Edited: 11/21/06 7:09pm (1 edits total) Edited By: Zaz
	Next: "How Green Was My Valley" (1941) USA: 118 min. Technicolor Languages: English Director: John Ford Producer: Darryl F. Zanuck Screenplay: Phillip Dunne, from the novel by Richard Llewellyn Photography: Arthur C. Miller Music: Alfed Newman Cast: Walter Pigeon, Maureen O'Hara, Roddy McDowell, Donald Crisp, Sara Allgood The problem with this film--for me--is that I've read the book. John Ford changes the proud, reserved, tough Welsh of the book into loud sentimental Irish. The set design is beautifully done, but the book is poetry, and this adaptation doesn't match it, by a country mile, especially Walter Pigeon, who is terribly miscast.
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Zaz Title: Manager, The Ampitheatre Registered: Oct '98	Date Posted: 11/22/06 7:43pm Subject: RE: 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die: Now Disc: "How Green Was My Valley" (1941)
	Next: "The Palm Beach Story" (1941) USA: 118 min. Technicolor Languages: English Director: Preston Sturges Producer: Paul Jones Screenplay: Preston Sturges Photography: Victor Milner Music: Victor Young Cast: Joel McCrea, Claudette Colbert, Mary Astor, Rudy Vallee, William Demerest Sturges saw Rudy Vallee in a musical and noticed that the audience laughed whenever he opened his mouth. He immediately cast him as John Hackensacker III, the dimbulb millionaire in this movie. Again with upward (and downward) mobility; McCrea and Colbert are happily married, but he's an unsuccessful architectural engineer. She decides to divorce him...and who cares? The plot doesn't matter. It's funny, but not my favorite Sturges.
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Zaz Title: Manager, The Ampitheatre Registered: Oct '98	Date Posted: 11/23/06 6:09pm Subject: RE: 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die: Now Disc: "The Palm Beach Story" (1941)
	Next: "Now, Voyager" (1941) USA: 117 min. BW Languages: English Director: Irving Rapper Producer: Hal B. Wallis Screenplay: Casey Robinson, from the novel by Olive Higgins Prouty Photography: Sol Polito Music: Max Steiner Cast: Bette Davis, Paul Hendried, Claude Rains, Gladys Cooper Famous soap, wherein Bette Davis transforms (via shrink Claude Raines)from frump to sumptious. Escapism writ large; but the relationship between Davis and her mother (Cooper) rings true if nothing else does.
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Rogue1-and-a-half Title: Manager: Amphitheatre Registered: Nov '00	Date Posted: 11/24/06 4:08pm Subject: RE: 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die: Now Disc: "Now Voyager" (1941)
	I thought Mary Astor was quite hilarious in The Palm Beach Story. The plot is a bit farcical for my tastes, but it is very funny. -----signature----- Don't be a fool, don't be blind Heart of mine If you can't do the time, don't do the crime Heart of mine
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Zaz Title: Manager, The Ampitheatre Registered: Oct '98	Date Posted: 11/24/06 7:26pm Subject: RE: 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die: Now Disc: "Now Voyager" (1942) - Date Edited: 11/24/06 7:28pm (1 edits total) Edited By: Zaz
	Next: "Casablanca" (1942) USA: 102 min. BW Languages: English Director: Michael Curtiz Producer: Hal B. Wallis; Jack L. Warner Screenplay: Julius and Philip Epstein, Howard Koch, Casey Robinson (uncredited) from a play by Murray Burnett and Joan Allison Photography: Arthur Edeson Music: M. K. Jerome, Jack Scholl, Max Steiner Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Berman, Paul Henried, Claude Raines, Conrad Veidt, Sidney Greenstreet, Dooley Wilson, Peter Lorre, S. Z. Sakall, Madeleine LeBeau, Joy Page, John Qualen, Leonid Kinsky, Curt Bois Very large, very ethnic cast (only 3 Americans), splendid performances, great script, great music, top three movie song, and business-like direction = alchemy.
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General Kenobi Title: Administrator Emeritus Registered: Dec '98	Date Posted: 11/25/06 7:41am Subject: RE: 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die: Now Disc: "Casablanca" (1942)
	If you retitled the list "One Film You Must See Before You Die", Casablanca could be the film on that list. Seriously, 1001 films aren't "must see". Even 101 might be stretching it a bit.
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solojones Registered: Sep '00	Date Posted: 11/25/06 10:03am Subject: RE: 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die: Now Disc: "Casablanca" (1942)
	Eh, it's all right -sj loves kevin spacey -----signature----- 6 x 9 = 42 Proud member of the Colbert Nation My short films: http://www.youtube.com/solojones1138
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Zaz Title: Manager, The Ampitheatre Registered: Oct '98	Date Posted: 11/26/06 7:21pm Subject: RE: 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die: Now Disc: "Casablanca" (1942)
	Next: "To Be Or Not To Be" (1942) USA: 99 min. BW Languages: English Director: Ernst Lubitsch Producer: Ernst Lubitsch, Alexander Korda Screenplay: Melchior Lengyel, Edwin Justus Mayer Photography: Rudolph Mate Music: Werner R. Heymann, Miklos Rozsa Cast: Carole Lombard, Jack Benny, Robert Stack Benny plays Josef Tura, the actor-manager of a Polish stage troupe; Lombard is his flirtacious wife (her last film--she was killed by a plane crash before its release). The troupe rescue Lombard and Stack from Gestapo headquarters. I've seen this film and I thought it laboured. Why include it and not two infinitely superior Lombard films: "Nothing Sacred" and "Twentieth Century"?
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TheBoogieMan Title: Manager Emeritus Registered: Nov '01	Date Posted: 11/26/06 7:49pm Subject: RE: 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die: Now Disc: "To Be or Not To Be" (1942)
	Casablanca is a damn good film. Actually, it'll be interesting to see the new film, "The Good German", which has modelled its style of filming largely around Curtiz.
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Zaz Title: Manager, The Ampitheatre Registered: Oct '98	Date Posted: 11/27/06 4:31pm Subject: RE: 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die: Now Disc: "To Be or Not To Be" (1942)
	Next: "Cat People" (1942) USA: 73 min. BW Languages: English Director: Jacques Tourneur Producer: Val Lewton, Lou L. Ostrow Screenplay: DeWitt Bodeen Photography: Nicholas Musuraca Music: Roy Webb Cast: Simone Simon, Kent Smith, Tom Conway, Jane Randolph Is Irena (Simon) afraid of consumating her marriage, as her shrink (Conway) thinks? Or is she heir to the evil Satan-worshipping witches of her village back in Serbia? This movie is all implication and almost no graphic violence. The famous swimming pool sequence shows how effective that can be.
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Rogue1-and-a-half Title: Manager: Amphitheatre Registered: Nov '00	Date Posted: 11/27/06 5:02pm Subject: RE: 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die: Now Disc: "Cat People" (1942)
	What remains to be said about Casablanca? It's the best film to come out of the studio system. Period. The best. Bar none. To Be Or Not To Be, I thought quite funny. Lombard doesn't have much to do, sadly. You're right: Nothing Sacred and Twentieth Century are both funnier. Cat People: Oh, hell, yes. Simone Simone is just a little off, just a little strange . . . And the film uses silence and darkness to great effect; there's a nailbiter of a sequence on a darkened street where the click of high heels just drops away, leaving only the silence (of padded feet? Maybe!). And while you're still catching your breath over that, there's a terrifying bit in a swimming pool that is maybe the single best horror moment of pre-1960s cinema. -----signature----- Don't be a fool, don't be blind Heart of mine If you can't do the time, don't do the crime Heart of mine
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Zaz Title: Manager, The Ampitheatre Registered: Oct '98	Date Posted: 11/28/06 7:22pm Subject: RE: 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die: Now Disc: "Cat People" (1942) - Date Edited: 11/28/06 7:26pm (1 edits total) Edited By: Zaz
	Next: "The Magnificent Ambersons" (1942) USA: 88 min. BW Languages: English Director: Orson Welles Producer: Jack Moss, Orson Welles, Jack Schaefer Screenplay: Orson Welles Photography: Stanley Cortez Music: Bernard Herrmann Cast: Joseph Cotten, Tim Holt, Dolores Costello, Richard Bennett, Agnes Moorehead, Anne Baxter Welles' 2nd movie. He didn't star in it, but Welles cast a basic look-alike (Holt) as the hero, George Amberson Minafer (little known fact: George is Welles' real frist name). George is the offspring of a misalliance between the beauteous Isabel Amberson and a dour, dull accountant. Cotten is Isabel's old boyfriend, who still loves her; her son interferes in their romance. Everyone longs for George to get his come-uppance, and get it he does. Welles left the film unfinished and took off for Brazil, and didn't answer frantic calls from the studio; so they edited it. Thus the truncated ending, probably directed by the editor, Robert Wise. It still isn't as good as the novel, which is wonderful.
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